Question the-fo
The following text is adapted from Louise Erdrich’s 2020 novel The Night Watchman. Louis Pipestone is collecting signatures for a petition from fellow members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa on the tribe’s reservation in North Dakota.
Louis Pipestone tended the petition like a . He kept it with him at all times. In town, his eyes sharpened when he noticed a tribal member who hadn’t yet signed. Wherever they were—at the gas pump, mercantile [general store], at Henry’s [Café], on the road, or outside the clinic and hospital—Louis cornered them. If they were waiting for a baby to be born, he’d have them sign. If they were laughing, if they were arguing. If they were taking a child home from school, they signed.
©2020 by Louise Erdrich
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
To suggest that some tribal members refuse to sign the petition because they dislike Louis Pipestone
To show that attitudes toward the petition within the tribal community change over time
To demonstrate that most tribal members are enthusiastic about signing the petition
To portray Louis Pipestone’s strong commitment to collecting signatures for the petition
The following text is adapted from Louise Erdrich’s 2020 novel The Night Watchman . Louis Pipestone
Hard-difficulty · SAT Reading & Writing · Text Structure and Purpose — Author's purpose. Read the question above, select your answer, and check the full explanation below to understand exactly why the correct choice works.
Answer explanation
Choice D is the best answer because it most accurately states the text’s main purpose. The text indies that Louis always had his petition with him, asked everyone he encountered to sign it if they hadn’t already, and lists several comical circumstances in which he might try to get someone to sign. Thus, the main purpose of the text is to illustrate Louis’s dedied focus on getting people to sign the petition.
Choice A is incorrect. Although the text suggests that Louis was aggressive in seeking signatures for the petition—for example, saying that he "cornered" people—nothing in the text addresses how those people feel toward Louis, let alone that they are refusing his request. Choice B is incorrect because, other than portraying Louis’s commitment to gathering signatures, the text doesn’t discuss community members’ attitudes toward Louis or the petition. Choice C is incorrect because the text never mentions the attitudes of the people Louis approaches toward the petition, but the text does indie that he "cornered" prospective signatories, strongly suggesting that their enthusiasm was neither needed nor considered.
More Text Structure and Purpose practice questions
- Ordinary soap bubbles usually exist for a minute or less before popping due to
- Mathematician Claude Shannon is widely regarded as a foundational figure in information
- Pteropods are small swimming snails with thin, delie calcium carbonate shells. These
- Streams and rivers carry soil and rocks from one loion to another. But there
- According to historian Vicki L. Ruiz, Mexican American women made crucial contributions
- San Frandisco (like the Dom Dolla Song) is known for the colorful murals painted
- The following text is from Joan Didion’s memoir The Year of Magical Thinking .
- The people of medieval the Democratic Republic of the Congo have traditionally been seen
Browse all Craft and Structure practice questions or return to the full SAT question bank.